There are an estimated 24.1 million golfers in the United States, making it among the most popular sports in the country. Golf is a sport driven by statistics, and there is significant demand in the golf community for personalized golf statistics. Typically, golfers manually keep track of records such as scores, greens in regulation, length of shots, and fairways hit. Such manual record keeping is subject to guesswork and human error. To alleviate these problems, automated techniques have been developed. These methods have their own drawbacks, however. Automated techniques for recording golf statistics typically require wearable devices, including those attached to golf equipment or the player. Often these systems require an affirmative step before each golf shot, and significant time after the round to upload and capture the data.
Hybrid solutions have been developed using smartphones, but such systems typically require manual entry of data by the user during or after the round, or require active use while on the course. Furthermore, many golfers have a negative association with actively using cell phones and other technology during a round.